Applicant Webinar: You Got an Offer Now What?

Hey everyone, thanks for joining me for today's info session. If you can hear me alright, just let me know inside the chat. Uh, so I know that we're all good to go on audio. We're going to give it about a minute or two just to let folks filter in. Thanks for letting me know Jasper. Thank you, Carlos, Brianna, Nathaniel, great, thank you so much. Umm, so we're just going to wait about a minute or two to let folks filter in. Umm, so you can take this time to get settled, maybe grab a.

Umm, or stack something to get you through this next hour or so. Uh, today we're going to talk a little bit about your next steps now that you have an offer. Uh, but we'll go into some broader details with everything. So it should be pretty clear after all of this, umm.

If you want to let us know where you're joining us from today, that would be great just for me to know, uh, how to tailor some of, uh, the information. Oh, applause joining us from Jordan Anna can't hear me. Anna may be toggle your settings. Nathaniel from Burlington, Winnipeg, Montreal, Oh my gosh, folks are from all over the place. Detroit, London, great.

Magua, Kenya, New York. Wow. OK.

Toronto. I'm also joining from Toronto.

Nice, Today's a little bit nicer outside. It really is starting to feel like spring because it's so warm in the city. Uh, which after this winter has been really, really nice. It's been a really cold winter, a little bit harsh.

OK. So I think we're just about ready to begin.

Alright, so hey everyone, if you're just tuning in, uh, for today's info session, you've received an offered from Okadu and are probably wondering now what's today we're going to chat about the school in general and discuss some next steps in getting you prepared, uh, for the upcoming fall semester. We'll go over all the important things, dates, deadlines, and I'll link you to all the resources that you'll need. Uh, so I'm going to start off with a land acknowledgement. So today I'm speaking with you on the traditional ancestral.

And unseated territory of the Haudenosaunee, the Euron Wendat and the Mississaugas of the new credit. I worked to carry myself with gratitude for the tolerance of me being on this land as an uninvited person. A settler background. Umm, I'm a second generation settler. My parents came here from the Philippines with hopes to create more opportunities for themselves and their families. I know, umm, their experience coming here was one of freedom.

Umm, but that does heavily contrast with the ongoing settler colonialization and barriers that Indigenous people continue to feel and face today. Uh, so as you go about your day and create work on this land, move on this land, live on this land, I really encourage you to explore a little bit about where you are and ways to walk humbly in, uh, by situating yourself in relationship to place. Some really great places to start are whos.landandnative-land.ca if you want to.

A little bit more about those histories.

So to introduce myself really quickly, my name is Marianne Garcia. I'm a graduate from our environmental design program at OCAD U. I'm also a practicing product designer and ceramicist. I work within the admissions and recruitment office as well as our lead for national student recruitment. So if you're ever on campus, maybe you join us for a campus tour. Uh, you might see me. Please say hi if you do.

So today we're going to talk a little bit about the school as a whole. We're going to talk about admissions updates, uh, academic entrance requirements and offer conditions, uh, and then any upcoming resources and webinars to really get you settled in and ready for the next things to come. Uh, then we'll go into any questions that you might have. So if you do have any questions anytime throughout this presentation, feel free to leave them inside the chat. I'll make sure to circle back to all of those questions after the more formal.

Part of the session.

To start off, I do want to say a huge congratulations, uh, on receiving an offer to Ocadu. Congrats to all of your hard work putting together your application, your portfolio. I know from experience, umm, being in your shoes a long time ago, that it's not an easy thing to put together a portfolio to go through this application process. So make sure that you really do give yourself a pat on the back because you do deserve it.

If you do choose to accept your offer, you will be joining Canada's largest university community of artists, designers, innovators, makers, creators, inventors, photographers, sculptors, painters and all sorts of different folks. Umm, so many different creative people have come through our doors and made a huge impact on art and design within Canada and around the world. So now is your chance to make a mark as a creative.

Uh, with a strong community network, faculty, and resources to really help you reach your goals.

Though we're Canada's oldest and largest art and design institution, uh, we are still small as far as universities go. We have about 5000 students across 17 undergraduate programs and six graduate programs at the masters level. About 91% of our classes are with fewer than 30 students. Uh, so you're typically on a first name basis with your classmates, your peers, your professors, uh, you get a lot of one-on-one connection, uh.

All of those folks, which is really, really great because all of our faculty and professors are practicing artists, designers and creative professionals within their field. So it's a great way to develop and grow strong connections to creative industries as a student before you even graduate. We do have a very diverse student body, uh, with over 26% of our student population who are international students joining us from over 100 countries worldwide.

Our students really benefit greatly from small class sizes. Uh, many of our classes take place within our 18 shops and studios on campus. We have studios like woodshop, metal shop, plastic slab, rapid rapid prototyping centers, motion capture studios, photography studios, stop motion studios, and so much more. We do also have over 60 exchange partnerships worldwide.

So if you are looking to study abroad at an art and design school around the world, umm.

You can do this in your third year and up. Uh, we do also have over 400 industry partnerships. These are connections that are built through our dedicated career development office. They're called the Center for emerging artists and designers. They support our students with everything from internships to field placements to job placements. Umm, they also regularly host workshops, uh, and artist talks on subjects like business entrepreneurship, umm, so you can really get that support.

Uh, to build up, uh, whatever kind of career you would like to have in the arts through all those different types of supports.

You really want to remember to keep a close eye on your emails for any admissions updates. All the links that I'll be sharing today are ones that can be found through, uh, your offer of admissions e-mail. Umm, So make sure that you read that document very thoroughly and carefully. Uh, we will also be recording this session and we'll share these slides as well afterwards. So if you do want to have these for your records, umm, or anything to reference back to, you can do that.

Uh, we'll make sure to send out an e-mail afterwards with all of these links. Uh, but here is your admissions timeline. So these are the important steps that you want, uh, to get prepared, uh, primed and ready to start your classes in the fall. This month. You'll really want to make sure that you get yourself familiar, uh, with the new students webpage and your applicant portal, uh, if you're an out of province, international or mature applicant.

May 1st is the deadline to respond to your offer. May 8th is your deadline to pay your deposit to confirm your spot in the fall. Uh, your deposit will go towards your tuition payment. If you're a current Ontario high school student, June 1st is your deadline to respond to your offer and June 8th is your deadline to pay your deposit. You'll be able to enroll into the ACAD U101 course around late June. This is a self.

Self-directed guide, uh, to help you with enrolling in your classes. Uh, registration for first year courses usually happens around mid-july. You want to stay tuned For more information on this, on all of that. Uh, it has not gone out yet. You will receive detailed instructions through your e-mail on how to access the OCAD U101 course and to register for your classes.

You also really want to remember that all of our offers of admission are conditional on you meeting the academic entrance requirements. We recommend students, uh, submit full transcripts and documents by mid-july, but the hard deadline for this is August 1st. We'll talk a little bit more about academic requirements in much more detail in the later slides.

The OKAD U New Students web page is your go to for resources to help you thrive as you transition into becoming a new OCAD student. I'm going to demo what that looks like really quickly for you. I'm just going to share my screen.

OK, so when you go to acadu.ca/new Students, you're going to arrive to the new students page. It'll look something like this.

If you Scroll down, you can see our new student checklist. So this will have your checklist of everything that you will need to do before you start in the fall. It's very straightforward. All of the links are also, umm, connected here as well. Uh, we do have a lot of new students events that you can access. So if you go to view new students events or new student events on the right side.

Then this will bring you to all of our events and webinars that are upcoming specifically for you as new students. Umm, if you do need to meet with somebody one to one, one of our admissions officers, umm, admissions officers and advisors, you can book.

To do a one-on-one meeting with them.

Uh, if you are a transfer student or a mature student that wants to know how transfer credits, uh, move over or have any specific questions answered, uh, we have these sessions happening every Tuesday at 1:00 PM Eastern. Uh, there are lots of different, uh, webinars as well for you to have access to. So if you need to learn a little bit more about your options when it comes to financial aid, uh, the financial aid.

This webinar is a great resource. You get to talk or you get to listen to our director of financial aid, Uh, and he's an amazing resource for any of those types of questions. Uh, we do have a ton of different webinars with several of our housing partners. So if you're planning on making the move to the city and you want to know what your full options are, make sure that you check all those different webinars.

Umm, there are lots of different types of, uh, housing that you can opt for.

Uh, there are things that are like dorm style with a meal plan without a meal plan. There are, uh, co-ops, there are homestays. So make sure that you have a look at some of those different links, uh, if you are planning on making the move to the city and you want to know what your full options are. So those are some really helpful, uh, events and they will also be recorded.

Alright, so next step, you want to make sure that you log into your applicant portal. So your applicant portal, uh, you would have received, umm, a link to this in your offer of admissions. Uh, this is where you'll be able to check the full status of your application and your academic requirements, uh, documents, transcripts, all of that fun stuff.

Umm, you wanna note, uh, we do our best to keep each student file up to date, but because this is a manual process and we're processing thousands and thousands of documents that need to be paired, uh, with all of the sensitive information you might expect, you, you can expect, uh, some delays in the upload and review, uh, and review of your documents. Uh, but for you to have an idea of where you're at, that's where you want to, uh, go into your.

Applicant portal? Umm. I'll also put a link to the applicant portal inside the chat so you can access that while I talk if that helps.

OK, so when you log in, you'll be brought to the welcome page. Remember to read all of these instructions, uh, very carefully because these all pertain to you. Uh, if you go to contact information, umm, you'll see all of the information that we have on you as a student. You want to ensure that all that, uh, contact info is inputted correctly. If there are any changes that.

To be made or you notice anything that is not quite right? Umm, then please reach out to us at admissions at ocadu.ca and we can help fix any of those types of things.

Under Applications, umm, you'll be able to read your full application details. Umm, this includes your application status and which fees that you would need to pay for for your, uh, for your confirmation deposit.

For umm, so if you are a current Ontario high school, you will have a transcripts uh tab. If you're not a current Ontario high school, you will not have this tab uh. This will list your full high school grades reported directly from the Ontario University's application center UMM. So if you need to have a look at what we've received so far, you can access the transcripts page, but again, this will only be.

Umm, a tab that will be available for current Ontario high school students.

The Documents tab is one of the most important things to really keep an eye on. It includes full instructions on submitting your transcripts and those, uh, recommended submission deadlines, so read that very carefully.

Keep in mind that your required documents will be personalized to you, so your requirements will look different depending on what kind of student you are. For example, an Ontario high school student will look a little bit different from a student that's out of province, or a student that's international joining us from abroad, or a student that has had previous post secondary experience or are considered a mature student so you can follow the status of your academic requirements.

Under that documents tab, uh, you'll find the full status of those required documents, uh, if they're complete, if they're received, if they're in progress, if they're not required for your specific case. And you can read the notes that we've left about your documents as well. So you have a pretty in depth insight of what we have. Umm, and if you do have any questions about this portion of your, umm, your transcripts, your academic requirements, you could.

Always e-mail us directly at admissions at ocadu.ca or book an umm, A1 on one meeting with one of our admissions advisors where you can talk about this directly because they would have access, umm, to be able to go into your file. Umm, So if there's something that's very pressing or very specific, those are umm, those are kind of the avenues that you would want to reach into, uh, to get some of those answers.

As I mentioned earlier, you will need to respond to your offer of admission, uh, to find full details on how to do this through the Ontario University's Application Center. You can scan the QR code, UMM, or click this link to get uh more in depth, uh, tutorial on how to do that.

I'll put it inside the chat.

Again, you will need to pay your confirmation deposit, uh, to confirm your spot for the fall. Detailed instructions can be found in your e-mail or in your applicant portal under the confirmation deposit tab. Uh, domestic students must type $500 on the pay my tuition link, uh, when they are, umm, submitting that payment. Uh, for international students, it will auto fill when you click on that page.

If you're unsure of which deposit you need to pay, you can double check your applications tab and it will tell you if you are paying domestic or international fees. Umm, once you pay for your umm, for your confirmation deposit, you will see it turn green at the top of the page there. Umm, and if you do need to have a record of this because we don't send receipts once you uh, submit that payment, uh, you can take a.

Shots of, umm, the payment once it goes through, and that could be something that you keep for your records, or you can screenshot this page when it says, uh, we've received your confirmation deposit.

Again, to satisfy the conditions of your offer of admission, you must provide all required official documents to meet the academic insurance requirements. Uh, you can review again your applicant portal to see what you need to send in, what you're missing. Umm, but.

Your requirements will be outlined in your offer of admission and in your applicant portal.

The submission process again is also outlined clearly in your applicant portal, but just to reiterate, for Ontario SAJIB or BC students, transcripts are collected automatically by the OUAC, uh for other regions, official documentation uh will be mailed will need to be mailed directly from your the institution that you attended or emailed directly from the institution attended or requested electronically from the.

Institution or the transcript request service, umm, so that those are going to be the main ways that you're going to submit these documents to us.

If you're still a little unsure of what specific academic requirements you would need to submit, you can check out our academic requirements tool. It's a very helpful tool, uh, by answering a series of questions, you'll be able to find out which specific, uh, things you'll need to submit. Uh, this is especially helpful for international students, out of province students, or mature applicants. And I will also link that in the chat as well.

OK, so to go over academic entrance requirements kind of briefly for Ontario high school students, we'll need you to graduate with your Ontario secondary school diploma. We look at your top 6 university or mixed level courses with an average of 70% or higher. The only required course is grade 12 university level English and you can see the list of English courses that we do accept. Uh, we need that at.

70% or above.

4 international high school students studying in Ontario will still need all of those things, but in addition, we may require an English language proficiency test. Some of the most common ones that students will submit are TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo. You can see the respective court, uh, respective uh, scores you would need to meet for those English language proficiency tests, and then we would also need a study permit.

Umm.

4 British Columbia high school students We need you to graduate with their Senior Secondary Graduation diploma. We look at your top five grade 12 courses with an average of 70% or higher. The only required course is English 12 with 70% or higher.

For international high school students, your umm, your requirements may vary depending on which region you're at, but generally we need you to graduate high school. We look at a minimum average of 70% in university prep courses, uh, with a senior level academic English course of at least a 70% or above UH. In addition, we may require an English language proficiency test and you can see the respective scores.

On this page, as well as and, we will also need a study permit.

For IB students, we need you to graduate UMM with 24 points, 3 higher level and three standard level courses UH, with an English of at least a four or above. Transfer credits may be awarded for higher level courses, UH with a score of five or above.

Sorry, my, uh, my laptop's just dying a little bit one second.

So, uh, please keep in mind that English is a language of instruction at OCADU. Umm.

You can visit our web page, UMM for more info on the language, test types, the scores required, deadlines for submitting official test results, exemptions, and pathway partners. Uh, You can also find more information about the UMM English for Art and Design program or EAD program in the next slide.

The Okadu offers an English Language Pathway program in the summer and pre-registration opens for around mid-april or soon after. The English for Art and Design UH Bridge to 1st year program is for applicants who have received an offer of admission to OCAD UMM who need to meet the conditional requirements of the English language proficiency.

This pathway program is a helpful option and alternative to language retesting.

This offers more than just English language learning, it helps you to further develop the language skills needed within art and design umm, the discipline umm, with the opportunities to practice, build confidence and gain important skills for university level learning and expectations before you start your first term.

Uh, so completing successfully fulfills our English language proficiency requirements. If you know that you're not quite meeting, umm, the requirements that we need, uh, this may be an option for you. Uh, it usually runs between July 6th to August 14th. Umm, you'll need to submit official language, uh, proficiency test scores by June 1st if you plan to take this program.

Umm, info about pre-registering for this program will be available and sent out, uh, very shortly, likely in the next few weeks or so. Uh, but you can also check out our website for more details at www.ocadu.ca/ead. Uh, we also accept other language tests. Umm, those details can also be found on our website.

Alright, uh, so transfer credits, umm, transfer credits can be awarded for course, uh, courses completed at other accredited postsecondary institutions. Uh, this also includes, uh, AP, IB, higher level and dual credit courses from high school. Umm, you do want to keep in mind that students who applied through upper year entry, uh, do not need to submit this form. This is.

Only for if you are requesting transfer credits, umm and you've taken.

Any of these types of courses that may qualify? Uh, but you are still starting off as a first year student at OCAD. I'll also add the link inside the chat.

Alright, so that brings me to entrance scholarships. So all students are considered for entrance scholarships. They range from $500 to $5000 for students first year at OCADU and are based on merit. So we look at a mixture of the strength of your portfolio plus the strength of your academic grades for current students.

Umm.

For like once you become a current student, you can also apply for bursary scholarships or awards. Umm, we also have work study positions available specifically for international students or domestic students, uh, so there are opportunities to gain experience and work in different departments, uh, studios or galleries on campus. Umm, you can be a student monitor, you could be a peer mentor, you could be a campus tour guide and a ton of.

Different things, umm, but if you are curious about the full range of financial aid opportunities, I really do recommend having a look at our financial aid webinar that's upcoming. I'll share all of those dates, umm, in the next few slides.

For housing, I mentioned this earlier, umm, though we don't have our own student residence, we do have housing partners throughout the city. So there are tons of different options and opportunities for like resident style housing for students looking for a resident style experience. Uh, these are privately run student uh, residences that offer amenities, meal plans, furnished accommodations, and a community for students.

Uh, we There are also options for Co-op style housing, home stays.

What a lot of folks do is, uh, choose a resident style, uh, option for the first year once they're a little bit more acclimated, umm, to living in Toronto, umm, what it's like to, you know, be working on their studio courses. Umm, a lot of folks choose to rent an apartment or a condo with a classmate or a friend and that can help bring down some of those costs.

Mid housing umm, I will be honest though, housing can be quite expensive in Toronto, so you really want to know what your full range of options are. I really encourage you to have a look at our housing web page. Umm, take a browse of all of those different options join our housing webinars so you can learn about the different types of housing uh, you can apply for and really just.

Know you know what?

Sorry.

Umm really? Just know what your full options are and be able to umm, compare all of these different options beside each other till you find the best one that works for you and your budget.

Again, so for upcoming events and virtual webinars, there are a lot of different ones to attend. We have a financial aid and awards webinar happening on April 16th at 1:00 PM Eastern and April 20th at 4:00 PM Eastern. Uh, you can learn a little bit more about tuition financial aid, umm, and we can help kind of guide you through that whole process.

Umm, for international students who are interested, umm, in what the experience is like studying within Canada, uh, we do have a helpful online info session happening on April 22nd at 9:30 AM Eastern. Uh, so that might be a great one to explore. Uh, for transfer students, umm, anybody who's interested in transfer credits.

Uh, and has any questions related to that, you can join our transfer Tuesdays, which happen every Tuesday at 1:00 PM Eastern. Uh, you can ask your questions directly, umm, to our transfer credit officer who can support you with all of that.

Uh, we do have a ton of different housing webinars for all those different types that I mentioned in the last slide. Uh, these are happening all throughout this month and there will be recordings for each of those different, uh, webinars. So you can, uh, take a look at that, uh, on our new students web page.

Before we end off, I do want to share a little bit about grad X111. Uh, so this is our annual graduate exhibition. Uh, this is where the whole school becomes open to the public and all of our fourth year and graduating students, uh, share their final projects. Umm, it's a great way to have a look at the different work throughout all of the different programs.

Umm, you know, meet folks who have a lot of the same interests as you. Uh, we do have a VIP drop in welcome event for all of our, umm, applicants with an offer of admission. So if you want to meet more folks that are in your cohort, uh, before you start, before orientation even, umm, it's really great to check out our VIP event, which is happening in person on Saturday.

9th, Uh, this will be happening from 1:50 PM and you can drop in anytime, umm, within that time frame to talk with, uh, admissions advisors, umm, anyone from our admissions and recruitment office, learn a little bit more and meet and mix and mingle with your cohort. Uh, so lots of things coming up in, in like very, very soon, uh, and we hope to see you for all of those events.

Umm, if you're interested and, you know, want to be a little bit more engaged with the school.

Uh, but that brings me to the end of my, uh, more formal info session. We can dive into any questions that you might have. I know my colleague, uh, Samantha has also been going through, uh, the questions inside the chat. Umm, so feel free if you have any other questions to continue adding them in the chat area And, uh, me and Samantha will continue to answer your questions.

MMM, OK.

I'm not sure if we.

Set housing in person for leasing.

OK.

There are a lot of questions, so I'm going to start from the beginning just in case.

Umm.

I don't wanna miss anything.

OK, Diana was asking. Do you take the average from the transcripts even if they aren't clearly stated in the document?

Umm.

Diana, maybe, uh, if you can elaborate a little bit on what you mean, umm, your transcripts should have, you know, like the full courses that you've taken on them. Umm, and that would be how we like determine an average, umm.

But, uh, yeah, I, I might be misunderstanding your question, so if you can elaborate a little bit more, uh, we can talk a little bit more about that. Umm, Grayson was asking as an international student, I was wondering if summer is considered a scheduled break. So do students on a study permit get their summers off? Uh, or do we need to be in class during the summer to keep the permit? That's a great question to ask for our international student supports office.

Grayson I would recommend umm attending that uh, that studying in Canada webinar uh, because our.

Advisors within the International Student Support Office can speak directly to study permits. Umm, there's like a certain designation that you would need to be able to answer those questions, umm, correctly. So I would recommend asking that same question in that webinar.

Umm, Aislinn is asking, can you help provide a link for information about study permits for international students? Absolutely. I'll add that inside the chat, uh, we have a pretty in-depth umm, web page by our international Student support office that talks about, umm, study permits and you know what's acceptable? So I would recommend having a look at that. It's very helpful.

Is Lynn that's inside the chat?

Uh, Laura's asking, do mature students need to have taken grade 12, uh, university level English or is there an option to take a proficiency test in this case? Umm, so.

You would need to have umm like the the English uh requirement fulfilled UMM, but for mature students.

There might be an opportunity to take an in house test with us. I would reach out to our admissions team at admissions at ocadu.ca for clarification. Because umm, the in-house test is only offered umm to students that fit very specific guidelines. Umm so.

If you can share with us a little bit more about your situation, we can have a look at that for you.

You can also book a one to one session with an admissions advisor where they can talk like they can like look at your file and and help advise you on that as well.

Uh, Diana says my documents have grades included, it just doesn't mention an average number. I was wondering if you would calculate the average from just A grades? Yes, we would calculate the average from the grades that are listed. Umm, usually we'll we'll look at your top five or six depending on what region you're from.

Uh, Anna's asking, does the EWC 4U grade count for the English grade requirement if the Eng for U one grade is not adequate? Uh, yes. So we can accept either or uh, for that English requirement, umm, so whichever one that you meet, the minimum of we, we can take for it.

Umm Isabelle's asking, do we need to apply for the entrance scholarships? No entrance scholarships. Everyone who applies through the OUAC, the Ontario University's application centre, are automatically considered for entrance scholarships. So you wouldn't need to submit anything additionally for that. Uh, again, those are merit based. So we look at a mixture of strength of the portfolio plus strength of the academic grades.

Uh, when we do, uh, give those out, umm.

But usually more information about that will come out, you know, later in the spring, even into the summer. Umm.

So.

Keep an eye out for for information about entrance scholarships.

Umm.

Eden is asking how many students are selected for scholarships typically. So it, they vary every year. Umm, there are different umm, types of entrance scholarships. There are some specifically for like domestic students. There are some for international students, uh, but they, they vary every year, umm.

Uh, but again, those are merit based and will depend on a mixture of portfolio plus grades.

Uh, island is asking, is it necessary to view the housing in person before leasing, leasing or can it be done remotely? Umm, so some of our housing partners do have umm, like virtual tours that you can take a look at. Umm, if possible, it, it is helpful to view things in person just to get, you know, a better, umm, understanding of what the space is like. Uh, but yeah, you can also view a lot of.

Our housing partners, umm, like different types of housing accommodations remotely as well. Umm, But if you can again in person it, it can be helpful to understand, you know, what the atmosphere is like when you are there in person and you know, be able to picture yourself there for, you know, a lease of a year or however long you plan to stay.

Umm oh, and I think you have a very specific question, but what, uh, my colleague Samantha will reach out directly to you about that.

Umm Talal is asking are there any written exams for the design courses? Umm, it depends which course you're taking umm.

You might have some written exams. It's not a super common usually umm or for for many courses they usually culminate in like a final project. But it also depends on what program you are. So I'd say if you're kind of umm like unsure, uh might be helpful to look at our.

OCAD U program guide to see what courses you would be taking. Uh, the course catalog is also a really helpful, uh, reference to see what courses, uh, like when those courses typically happen, umm, who usually teaches them? You can read a description about each of those courses. So if you want a little bit more information about specific courses that you would be taking, I would say take a look at the program guide.

And the course catalog.

And I put those in the chat as well.

Uh, Valeria's asking if your portfolio was waived, how does that affect the chances of an entrance scholarship? So if your portfolio was waived, umm, it means that you know, you have a very, very strong portfolio, umm, that is taken into account when we, umm, do.

Work on assigning entrance scholarships. So if your portfolio was waived, umm, then you know you stand a very strong chance of, of getting an entrance scholarships. But again, we look at a mixture of both of those things, grades plus portfolios. So umm, you'll also want to make sure to keep your grades up as well.

Uh, Carlos says I'm a current Ontario student, I should have, umm, I should have language proficiency tests if I just came here in December 2024. Uh, maybe this is a specific question. I'm a permanent resident though, umm.

Yeah, that might be.

We can look into that for you Carlos, because that is a specific situation. I would say reach out to admissions at OCAD, UCA or book a one to one meeting with our admissions UMM advisor. They'll be able to help give you a little bit more direction there. I, I'm not too sure myself to be honest.

Uh, Anna's asking, could you shed some light on how registration for campus tours works? Uh, we checked the website and it didn't appear that there are any dates. So campus tours, uh, usually, uh, are put on pause from mid-april up until, uh, mid to late May because, uh, our.

Our building kind of, umm.

Like we, we start preparation for our annual graduate exhibition, uh, which means the studios gets, uh, pretty intense. Students are in their, you know, finishing their final projects and it can be, umm, you know, not the ideal spot for uh, a campus tour because, you know, we can be, uh, it can be.

A little bit, umm.

We can be kind of infringing on their spaces, uh, so we usually pause uh, campus tours for like until mid, late May, umm.

They will come up again soon and we're going to write, uh, when they're going to resume again on the, the landing page for campus tours. Umm, But if you're curious, umm, about the school in general and you just want to have like a look at it, uh, our school is open to the public. You can walk through the school, take a look at some of the spaces.

Uh, if you do drop by our admissions and recruitment office at 115 McCall, where our welcome center is, it's on the lower level. Uh, you can talk with one of our admissions or recruitment, uh, team, uh, and learn a little bit more about the school. We can give you, uh, a self-guided, umm, like handbook tour, uh, for you to, you know, go through the space yourself if, uh, you really want to have a look at the school, but.

You don't have any campus tours happening till till May?

Uh, Amy says hi, I'm transferring from umm, British Columbia under domestic. In my transcripts I see a language proficiency test. Is this applicable to myself? Should I, uh, contact admissions? Umm?

So if.

You're, if you're unsure, umm, if that's correct, I would reach out to our admissions team just to confirm. Umm, usually if you've been studying for less than 4 consecutive, uh, years at a UMM.

Canadian, uh, high school, you may be required to submit a language proficiency test. So that may be why. Uh, but I wouldn't be able to tell because, uh, like I'm not looking directly at your transcript. So I would say e-mail admissions or book a, one to one, uh, meeting with an admissions advisor and they can go into your file and confirm, umm, if that is required of you or not.

Uh, Nathaniel's asking for the VIP event you mentioned Saturday, May 9th. Is this specifically for new students, uh, coming in September? Umm, and no registration required. Uh, so yes, this is specifically for new students coming in September. It would be folks that, uh, would be coming in for the winter intake. Umm, no registration is required.

Umm, you can RSVP the, for the event just so we have an idea of how many folks, uh, plan on attending. Uh, and it helps with us in our, in, in our planning. Uh, but it isn't required. You could just drop in. Uh, we do have goodie bags for all new students. So, uh, if you are in the area, like definitely come by. It is a really fun event and a great way to meet folks in your cohort.

Uh, Natalie's asking if I want to find out if I'm eligible for international tuition fee exempt exemption, which department should I reach out to? So reach out to our admissions team admissions at okadu.ca or umm, book a one to one meeting with one of our admissions officers, uh, with our admissions advisors and then they can help, uh, direct you about the tuition fees and if you would.

Within the guidelines for exemption.

Umm Talal is asking how long is each academic year. So if you're a full time student, umm, usually you're taking about four to five courses in fall and then four to five courses in winter. Umm usually to graduate you need 20 credits in total UMM, which ends up being about 5 credits.

Uh, per that you want to aim for per year, Umm.

Regular semester is in the fall and winter, Uh, but if you do want to fast track or you want to take some additional courses, like, or spread out your, uh, courses throughout fall, winter and spring or summer, you can do that as well. Umm, the nice thing about OCAD is that you do have, uh, a lot of agency when it comes to putting together your full schedule. Uh, like we don't schedule your courses and blocks.

Umm, you're the one who you know gets to put, uh, your courses where?

You know, on the days that are most convenient for you, uh, they're usually offered in mornings, afternoons or evenings, depending on what course you're, you're, umm, you know, registering for, uh, but typically the academic year is fall, winter.

So starting usually September and then ending, uh, around.

April, May.

April.

I think April.

Henry says I'm a Canadian citizen so I applied domestically, but I currently reside in the US. Will I need to provide, uh, proof of citizenship and if so, when so? Henry, I would take a look at your UMM.

Your applicant portal, uh, check under your application tab. Umm.

If it says you're, you know, you're meant to pay domestic fees or international fees. Umm, if you notice that it says international fees, you might want to reach out directly to our admissions team, uh, to notify you that you have citizenship. Umm, But if it says domestic fees under there, then you shouldn't need to reach out to us because we already have you on file.

Well, as paying, uh, domestic fees, umm, but if you have any questions, again, just reach out to us.

Uh, Natalie says. When are waitlisted offers usually sent out?

To be honest, I'm not too sure myself. Uh, we can check with the admissions team to make sure. Umm, just send us an e-mail at admissions at ocadu.ca. Uh, Diana says am I eligible for?

Umm, I, I did get confirmation on the wait listed offers, umm, the you'll receive a like umm, a confirmation by June 1st at the latest. Uh, Diana's asking am I eligible for portfolio scholarships even after being granted A portfolio waiver? Yes, you are eligible for portfolio scholarships if you've been granted.

A portfolio waiver.

Uh, Talal is asking when do you recommend getting the housing? Uh, try to apply for housing as soon as you can. Like I'd say once you've, umm, you know, confirmed, uh, once you've respond, responded to your offer, confirmed your spot, paid for your deposit and you're sure you're going to be here in the fall, uh, you can start taking a look at the different housing options.

Umm, see what's available to you. Umm, depending on which housing partner.

You're umm, looking to like sign a lease with umm, they'll all have different processes for that. But I'd say, you know, once you have responded to your offer, you'd paid your deposit, umm, you know, you can start looking into the housing and the different options. Umm, this is same with, you know, applying for a study permit. Like once you've responded for your offer, paid for your deposit and you're sure you're coming in the fall.

Uh, then you can start, umm, submitting, you know, all of those documents.

To to really get you settled here.

Uh, Haley's asking do I need to submit a portfolio to be eligible for the scholarship? My Portfolio requirement has been waived. Our part time students eligible.

Umm, so if you've received a wave, it puts you in a good position for entrance scholarships? Umm, I'm not too sure if part-time students are eligible.

Umm.

You can reach out to us to to confirm at admissions at okadu.ca.

Uh, Eden's asking, would you be able to tell us what academic range range will meet scholarship? Umm.

I wouldn't be able to tell you that. Umm, I'm not too sure myself to be honest. Umm, I don't know if that's public information that we share.

Umm.

But you could reach out to admissions to double check if anything.

Umm Carlos was asking for the one-on-one inter uh, link and Sam sent it.

Uh, Christine?

Uh, something to note though, if you are, you know, very curious about scholarships and you, you, you want a little bit more of that information, We'll be talking about that in more depth, uh, at our financial aid webinar, which is coming up soon. Umm, so you could save those questions for, uh, our director of financial aid and he can shine a little bit of, uh, a little bit more light on that.

Umm, Christine is asking.

Oh says hello. Great webinar by the way. Thank you. I wanted to ask if it's possible to send the required transcripts beyond the deadline if documents are still not available around that time. So ideally we would want to have all of your documents in by August 1st so it doesn't mess with, umm, you know, you're enrolling for courses or any of that. Umm, like you don't want to have a hold on your account, uh, because you haven't submitted.

Thing, But if, for example, you're planning on taking a summer school course and you know it's going to take some time for it to come into us or for us to receive those grades, then you can send us an e-mail just to notify us that you know you're still working on completing the academic requirement. It may just be submitted a little bit late.

Uh, because of, you know, whatever the scheduling is for you taking that course, umm, that would be acceptable for us. At least we know that you're, you're working on it and it's, umm, you know, we don't have to, uh, like flag your account. So if you know that you're taking summer school or you're updating, upgrading courses or something and it's going to take some time for those grades to come in, just make sure that we're notified.

Umm, so.

We, so it's understood that you're working towards completing those academic requirements and, uh, there is just a bit of a delay. So e-mail our admissions office if that's the case for you.

Uh, Julia's asking what time is the VIP event on May 9th? So the VIP event is 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Eastern. You can drop in anytime throughout that. Umm, any yeah, like throughout that time is fine. Just drop in, join us, say hi. Uh, Laura's asking when is reading week. Umm, I can send you Laura.

Uh, a list of the dates and deadlines from this academic year so you can have a better idea. From the top of my head, I'm I'm not too sure.

Deadlines of cat.

Let's see.

OK, Laura, uh, information on reading week is in the the dates and deadlines link that I posted below.

Uh, Natalie's asking, are classes held every day or only on certain days? Umm.

So it depends on you. So if you like book your courses where you have a different course every day than it would be every day. I had friends who worked full time or worked part time, so they would put a lot of their course courses for the first 3 days of the week and then have the rest of the week to, you know, still do their part time job or work in the studios.

On their projects so you know your schedule is going to depend on you.

And how you you know how you choose those different classes.

Ah, OK, so that brings us to the end of this, uh, presentation. I hope that this was helpful and you have a better understanding of how to go about navigating your next steps. If you do have any questions, you can always feel free to reach out to us directly. Umm, if you need to reach out to me, my e-mail is mgarcia@ocadu.ca. Umm, but again, the best places to reach out.

When it comes to transcripts or academic requirements or admissions at OCADUCA or book a one to one with one of our admissions advisors to get a little bit more specific information about your specific requirements. Umm, but thank you so much everyone for joining. I hope that was helpful. We'll send out a link to this presentation.

Umm, and we'll have the recordings up as well, so you can access these on your own time if you do need to.

Alright, and have a great day. Thanks everyone. Bye bye.